Born into a family of ten, she started life not on a platter of gold as her father passed away when she was just one year old and her mother had to fend for the eight children all by herself. Alice’s mother was the Cross River State Women leader of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) before Akwa Ibom State was created. Alice got a lot of encouragement from her mother when her desire to participate in partisan politics came to the fore. Her mother has influenced her both in dress making and politics.

She says that she owes her gratitude to God for her kind husband because he has been very supportive. Even though he initially frowned at her desire to become a politician, he later encouraged her to build the type of reputation that Fumilayo Ransome Kuti, Margaret Ekpo and Hajia Sawaba Gambo have. “It was not too easy convincing my husband. It took me about three years to get his approval and support,” she revealed. She however says that her role model is Eileen Sirleaf Johnson, First female and current President of Sierra Leone.

She says that things were rough at the beginning but she was happy she started the rough way. She was Acting State Women Leader of the All Peoples Party (APP) which later merged with United Nigeria Democratic Party (UNDP) and evolved into the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). She contested under the auspices of the ANPP and won thus, becoming the State Welfare Officer.

Alice Ekpeyong decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2003 and was warmly received because of the respect that she had for her elders and this secured for her a place among the committee of Elders in the PDP. She equally got the support and encouragement of the Local Government Chairman at the time.

During the Party Primaries to Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in 2007, Alice was the only female contestant among thirteen men. Hear her: “I saw hell when I was contesting but I would not have been this strong today if I had not faced the type of opposition that I had from my opponents. It was a great challenge!”

The party primaries were postponed twice for a start. On the third try, the returning officer declared more than 400 ballot papers. Alice did not leave anything to chance. She realised that the Ward Executives who were some 150 persons did not vote and their votes could make the difference between winning and losing the election. Right there, she set out to get their votes when they eventually get to exercise their franchise.

The Returning Officer, a female lied to her that the party chairman had directed that she bring back the remaining ballot papers. She rode behind them on a commercial motorbike popularly called okada while her driver and husband followed in her car. It was night but she was not deterred. “I was all out for victory and did not want to take no for an answer. The returning officer and her colleagues knew that if they had allowed the Ward Executives to vote, I would win,” she said.

Alice’s victory could best be described as a pyrrhic victory. Her detractors had prevented the ward executives from voting so that they can secretly thumbprint the ballot papers in the dead of night and declare her opponent the winner. The most annoying part of this drama was the role played by a fellow woman-the Returning Officer. She had compromised her loyalty and was engaged in a discussion with the men on how much they were going to accept from Alice’s leading opponent in order to award the remaining 150 votes to him.

The returning officer asked Alice to go and return the next day. She went downstairs but received a call from one of her agents telling her that her opponent had agreed to pay ₦500,000 and had gone home to get the money. So Alice changed her mind and decided to wait and see for herself. By the time she got upstairs again, the returning officer had already thumb-printed four voter’s cards.

Alice immediately picked one of the booklets containing the voters cards but the returning officer got up to retrieve it from her and Alice took the opportunity to pick up the other booklets and put them in her hand bag. In a true fantasyland fashion, she put one leg through her handbag strap and pulled it up to her waist and sat on the handbag.

All of a sudden, the Returning Officer, the State Security Service (SSS) officer and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) attached to the exercise pounced on her trying to retrieve the ballot papers from her. Then her phone rang; it was the State Police Commissioner.

He was checking on all the female aspirants in the election...as the male aspirants were alleged to have used thugs to intimidate their female opponents.

“While I was speaking with the state police boss, the DPO was screaming at me, ordering me to give him the bag or he would shoot me. On hearing this, the Commissioner asked me who it was that had threatened to shoot me. I told him and he asked me to “give the DPO the phone.” I tried twice but he refused to collect it.”

The commissioner insisted he speak with the DPO and he took the phone, shouted at the man on the other end of the line. “Whoever you are, I don’t bloody care!” It later dawned on him that it was his boss. “I can see him now as he took the salute and answered Yes Sir! Of course, he was confused. The Returning Officer too was confused.”

Downstairs, Alice’s driver was being beaten by thugs and the state police boss asked Alice to give her phone to the DPO who had to go downstairs and rescue her driver. In addition, he was to write a full report of everything that happened that fateful night and send it to the State Commissioner’s office first thing the next day.

Alice was conveyed in a police van to ‘B’ Division. The state police boss had to order that a police camera man take photographs of her driver while the documents were deposited at ‘B’ Division. The photos were ready by morning.

She wrote a petition that morning and attached the photographs to the document. This led to the disqualification of her leading opponent by the Appeal Panel that was set up and, Alice was declared winner.